As demonstrated by the Unified Medical Language System (“UMLS”), merging multiple incompatible terminology “ideas” into one imposes a unity upon concepts that are not equivalent. This unification results in ambiguity of interpretation and a loss of structural integrity of the original coding system. While the UMLS has achieved the goal of imposing order upon unrelated data sets, it results in inappropriate representation of all the coding systems involved and, worse, true errors in the stated congruence of conceptual models.
Accordingly, there is a need for a multi-level data structure that provides a wide breadth of standardized knowledge, representing the concepts of every aspect of an enterprise. In addition, there is a need for a method and system that interfaces with the multi-level data structure and that enables easy access, use and maintenance of standardized knowledge relating to an enterprise.